Despite hiccups, Bellator CEO still committed to tournament format

Bellator had already seen one fighter miss weight during its sixth season and lose out on a tournament opportunity.

But the promotion had never seen a tournament fail to reach its logical end because a fighter lost a fight with the scale, as Thiago Santos did when he came in 10 pounds over for the rescheduled finals of the season-five heavyweight competition at Bellator 62.

Despite the gaffe, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney said he’s not abandoning the format that distinguishes his promotion from others.

The season-five heavyweight-tourney final ended in with (painful) question mark when Santos (10-1 MMA, 2-0 BFC) accidently kicked Eric Prindle (7-1 MMA, 3-0 BFC) in the groin and Prindle couldn’t continue, which resulted in a no-contest. The bout was rescheduled for Bellator 61, but when Prindle fell ill and vomited backstage, Rebney made an executive decision to delay the bout. Then Santos missed weight this past week at Bellator 62, and Prindle won the heavyweight tournament by default.

It was the second time in Bellator’s sixth season that weight had sullied a tournament. Genair da Silva (11-4 MMA, 1-1 BFC) couldn’t reach the featherweight limit for his opening-round bout at Bellator 60 and was forced out of the opening round of the division’s eight-man competition.

Rebney said he’d make the same decisions again if faced with the same circumstances with Santos and Prindle. Santos’ manager initially complained about the timing of the rematch and said Bellator bore some of the responsibility for the fighter missing weight, but the fighter later accepted full responsibility and apologized. Rebney said the promotion continues to support the fighter – offering to contract a nutritionist – and didn’t cut him because of his potential.

“I think he’s a very talented fighter,” Rebney said.

As for switching things up, he sees no need.

“We’ve been extremely lucky over the last three years,” Rebney said. “Actually, I should not characterize it as lucky. Fighters in this organization, across the board almost to a man, approached this from an incredible professional perspective.

“They see themselves as professional fighters and treat this as a tremendous opportunity to develop themselves, to make a lot of money, to get on TV, and we’ve had very, very few fighters miss weight.”

Rebney acknowledged that his promotion likely will encounter the same problem moving forward. But that’s part of the fight game.

“Going into this year, we’re going to have 25 events that, by the time we get done with our next TV deal, are going to be seen in over 63 countries around the world,” he said. “Next year, we’re going to be close to 30 events.

“It’s just going to happen. It’s just the nature of the beast. And you hope it doesn’t occur, but it’s going to. It doesn’t mean we should change our format; it just means that people are human.”

For more on Bellator’s upcoming season, stay tuned to the MMA Rumors section of the site.

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